What’s Happening at Good Shepherd
Potluck and Acolyte Practice This Sunday is the first Sunday of March. That means it’s time for a potluck and acolyte practice. This month’s potluck theme is ‘Secret Ingredient’. Do you have a recipe that has a secret ingredient that no one can guess? Bring it in and let’s all have fun being surprised! Please be sure to take an index card from the kitchen. Write your recipe name on the front, and your secret ingredient on the back. Even if you don’t bring in a dish to pass, please stay and enjoy lunch! There’s always plenty to go around.
If you have an acolyte or crucifer, or a child who would like to be one, please be sure to remind them that they’ll need to meet in the sanctuary after the 10:30 service. They should grab a quick lunch and head back upstairs for practice with Pastor Matt.
Life Choices Baby Bottle Drive If you haven’t returned your baby bottles yet, please do bring them in this Sunday and give them to Christine Osgood. Thank you all so much for your help raising funds for this worthy cause.
Concert coming to Good Shepherd This Thursday, March 9th at 7pm Good Shepherd will be hosting a free concert by the Northwestern College Symphonic Band. We hope to use this event as an outreach to the community. Northwestern College is a strong Christian college (Jason Carlton’s alma mater) and the concert will include some brief testimonies by the musicians. And the music is excellent. The orchestra includes about 53 student members and we are looking for volunteers who would be willing to open their homes for Thursday evening, providing breakfast on Friday morning and perhaps a sack lunch for their departure. We have secured many of the students housing, but are still about 8 beds short. If you are willing and interested in supporting this outreach and opening your home, please contact the church office at 607-723-8032.
Daylight Savings Don’t forget that Daylight Savings time starts next Sunday (3/12). Remember to set your clocks forward 1 hour!
Scheduling Reminder If you need to make an appointment with Pastor Matt, please be sure to contact Stephanie directly at gs.binghamton@gmail.com.
Often when people come to speak with Matt after the service on Sunday, he’s already been working for over nine hours, and doesn’t always remember to put it into the calendar. This can cause double bookings, or forgotten appointments. Please keep in mind that the office is closed on Mondays and Fridays, but you can always leave a message. Thank you so much for your understanding.
Update and Announcements If you have an item you’d like to have announced on Sunday morning, or included in the update, please be sure to forward the item to Stephanie by Wednesday afternoon, and specify if you’d like it announced or just listed in the updates. It will then be edited and forwarded to Anne/Ife to announce on Sunday and/or added to the paper and digital update.
New Members and Attenders Class If you’ve decided to become an official member of Good Shepherd, or would just like more information about Good Shepherd, and what we believe, a new members class session started on January 29th after the 10:30 service in the youth room. If you missed the first class, but would like to catch up, you can hear the first class here: New Members and Attenders Class #1. Please call or email Stephanie at the church office for more information or to let us know if you’d like to attend the remainder of the sessions. Meetings typically last around an hour.
Ongoing Ministries
Children’s bulletins are available to help your children follow all parts of the service today. Please pick one up from an usher.
Bread and Wine If you are interested in joining a group of moms for a monthly supper and discussion of women in the bible, please contact Liz Hull.
Health and Wellness Our bodies are “the tents” that the Lord has given us to house our souls. Begin to take care of the body which God Has given you. Check your blood pressure, blood sugar, and weight every Sunday in the Parish Hall 9-10AM. Please see Dolly Shaller or Carmen Swoffer-Penna for more details.
Member Food Pantry God gives us all things that we must do, like tithing to our church, and helping others. The first we do privately, but helping others can be done simply by purchasing a small amount of food for our member food pantry every time we go grocery shopping. In that way, those who need to use it, will have a variety of items to choose from when it comes to feeding their families.
Items Needed: Peanut butter and jelly or jam, canned meats and tuna, chicken noodle soup, vegetable or vegetable beef soup, pasta sauce, powdered milk, white or brown rice (1 lb bags only), juice other than tomato, canned fruits (other than apple sauce or cranberry), coffee singles, tea bags, and anything else you’d like to bring.
Note: Please don’t bring flour or sugar, or leave any open packages of pasta or rice in the pantry, as it attracts mice.
Last Week
Last Week in Christian Ed Dr. Anne Bailey, led a discussion on African American history and experience in the Americas.
Last Week’s Sermon was called ‘Solid Food‘, and was based on Hebrews 5:11-14. It can be listened to or downloaded here.
Ash Wednesday’s Sermon was called ‘Deep Cleaning’, and was based on Matthew 6:1-6. It can be listened to or downloaded here.
Mission Group Discussion Questions
Read Hebrews 5:11-14
1) Why does the preacher/writer of Hebrews take a break here from talking about Jesus as our great High
Priest?
a. What does it mean that the listeners/readers have become “dull of hearing”?
b. Why have they become dull of hearing?
c. What are the symptoms of someone who is dull of hearing?
2) To what does the phrase “basic principles of the oracles of God” refer?
a. What are some of these basic principles?
b. Where are these principles revealed? And how can we come to know them?
c. How does knowing these basic principles lead us
3) How does the preacher/writer contrast spiritually immature believers with mature followers of Christ?
a. What does the “milk” represent in this analogy? What does “solid food” represent?
b. What does it mean to be “unskilled in the word of righteousness”? How do we become skilled?
4) What is the description of a mature believer in the second half of verse 14?
a. What are some things that you constantly practice?
b. In what ways can a believer constantly practice their powers of discernment?
c. How can we know the difference between what is good and what is evil?
Tuesday Morning Bible Study ‘The Burning Bush‘ was based on Exodus 3.
Moses was not looking for his purpose in life, nor was he straining to interpret strange dreams, movements of his heart, nor turnings of his belly. And yet God intervened and carried out his plan for Moses which he had decreed from before the beginning of time. The Christian is not required to tune in to some special voice or calling. He or she is only called to attend to the voice of God in scripture and trust that for all of those who believe, God works all things together for their good because of Christ Jesus.
You can watch it below, or click this link.
You can catch up on the last month’s recordings here.
Preventing Grace Podcast Did you know that Matt and Anne have a podcast? They talk about everything from church polity to rustic breads. In this week’s episode, ‘Anglican Turmoil in England, Lent, and Glitter Ash’, Matt and Anne discuss the roiling wretchedness in the Church of England, an attack on Religious Liberty in Ohio, Lent, and Glitter Ash.
You can catch up on all of the older podcast episodes here.
This Week
This week in Christian Ed Our next Christian Education series will be focused on Evangelism. The bare bones essential vocation for every believer is to “make disciples of all nations…”(Matthew 28) but how do we do this? I would like to approach this question first from a theological perspective…if God is sovereign, that is: if God is the only one who changes hearts and faith is a gift from God, why should we share the Gospel?
Thankfully, Dr. JI Packer (an Anglican) has spent a good deal of time and energy considering this question. He authored a book called “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God”. It is only 122 pages but an excellent read. This next series will begin with a series of discussions based on his book. You can buy it here. And if you cannot afford it, don’t worry (we’ve been there) there will be free copies available at the church soon.
After we discuss evangelism from a theological perspective we will discuss it on a more practical, every day, level…but it is important to start with theology so that we know why (and to what end) we are doing what we are doing.
This Week’s Sermon is based on Hebrews 6:1-8.
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
Team Ephesians is working on the altar this Sunday with Ife Ojetayo.
Shepherd’s Bowl Team 4 will be working this week with Michael Beauharnois (3/9).
Altar Guild Christine Osgood is serving this Sunday.
The readings for this week are: Genesis 2:4-9, 15-17, 25-3:7 and Hebrews 6:1-8.
The PDF Bulletin for this Sunday’s 10:30 service can be downloaded here.